SEQUEL to Black Nightmares... War brews between the dragons. Chaos engulfs the lives of Aeslynn and her new son, Argenfon. Just what does fate have in store for him? And who is the mysterious woman that is keeping an eye on him as he grows?

Author's
Note – This is it! Finally! After, what…four years? Ick…
Here is the end of "Angel of Silk"! It's short, but hold a
good deal of information. I actually remembered to add in a little
bit of information that I'd forgotten earlier! That just proves I
spent WAY too much time away from this story, cause I did forget a
lot of stuff. Finale, yes…no more stories involving Aeslynn,
Lonryo, and their children. I think I've drained this world
dry…for the moment. My mind will always find some little thing for
all my stories to be "what if this had happened" or some such.
But, that doesn't mean I'm not writing other stories.
Though it's not a romance, which might not appeal to many of you
that read these stories, I have posted (or, rather, reposted)
"Revelations in Twilight", that way all of you that are
interested can go immediately to the new story. And that also means
that I have to get to working on the rest of the story and figuring
out how to redo some things. Anyways, enjoy!!

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Finale
– Shall we Say…

Zeruoder
had been right about the war not continuing much longer, but it was
not due to the news of the queen's death. What bards would later
declare was every djinn in the kingdom (though, in truth, it was not)
appeared and surrounded the army of dragons when they, reluctantly,
started their second attack on Oshlay. Not a single one of the enemy
forces remained long upon seeing that many djinn. Rumor had it that
Anarisa had quite the interesting party that night in her shop to
celebrate the victory. No one was quite sure how all those djinn
could fit in such a little building, though.

Upankil,
who had totally missed Xaria on her way to face the queen, arrived at
Mount Atkomaryn with over a dozen other dragons, most of which were
blue dragons, like himself. Though he expected to find the place in
shambles after the wyvern attack, he was shocked to see there was
only minor damage. The few draltevs that were still there, as many
had rushed off to help others, shared in Upankil's shock, though
they were wondering why there was a band of dragons attacking them
now. Though both sides got geared up for a huge fight, one of the
more eccentric of the members of their order appeared in the
courtyard, did the same spell Lonryo had done decades before, and the
dragons vanished. Laughing like the madman he was, he disappeared
back into the depths of the sect's libraries, leaving his fellows
stunned.

The
Council intervened at Milanysh Palace a short time after Sanytcha's
death and a diamond dragon was placed to protect King Zeruoder until
things were settled and new treaties were formed. (Xaria still
stayed, though, having quickly formed a friendship with the king.)
Upon the new king's insistence, the Council did agree that he could
choose another to take the throne and they would reinstate him as a
member of the Dracocian Council. Along with the new treaty that was
drawn up, Zeruoder drew up more laws and abolished old ones which he
hoped would remain in effect once he turned over the throne.

In
a move that stunned every dragon that heard about it, Zeruoder named
his eldest brother, Dunovagh, the new king. There was no controversy
over the appointment, though. The army actually backed the decision
with more gusto than anyone would have imagined. Even though dragons
enjoyed long lived monarchs, Dunovagh being in the middle of his life
did not seem to worry the rest of the black dragons. Upon the
appointment, he sent Zeruoder off to the Dracocian Council to
officially restart the associations with them. Xaria also left at
this time, along with the diamond dragon that had seen to the
peaceful transition at the end of the war and the change of monarchs.

And
though the war was over, the scars were going to last forever. The
scars upon one sorcerer were so great, in fact, that a special
visitor came to see him. Gwymir was not in the mood for company, but
could not refuse his visitor. Turning him away would have been like
revoking his position as an Evancean. Their conversation mainly
revolved around Argenfon…

"I
did everything in my power to save him but he would not listen to his
intuition!" Gwymir was furious, more furious than his guest –
who had known him since childhood – had ever known him to have
been. "If he had just…"

"But,
he only had two choices – just two. And as wholly and completely
as he was against locating the Scepter of Dragons, it was the Ruby
Sword that would be his destiny."

"Olzhiyah…"
The seer-sorcerer turned to the djinni. He was seated in one of the
chairs by the table the tea tray sat on. He was wearing a new green
and white outfit which he had proudly shown his host, saying he was
amazed at Anarisa's abilities. "It is not that… It is…"
Gwymir sighed deeply and went to his chair, collapsing into it. "If
he had just listened to what he truly felt he should have done, then
everything would have turned out better." Gwymir pulled out a
flask and poured some strong liquor into his tea cup. "Wiser than
his grandfather my arse."

The
djinni started to protest but decided against it. "You still blame
yourself…"

"Damn
right I do." He stopped just a moment before he took a sip of his
now highly alcoholic tea and sighed. "If I hadn't succeeded in
calling him to me…"

"He
would not have had that joy he knew before his death. He would have
never seen his angel again, and you know it. That's why…" The
djinni sighed, looking down for a moment then back at his old friend.
"All our actions always have consequences, you know that. Most
seers cannot see the outcome of their actions clearly. That is why
powerful seers, like yourself, seclude themselves up in their homes
and rarely venture out into the world. They are all scared of
themselves."

"How
true!" He drained his teacup quickly and set it rather hard on the
saucer. "This just proves to me, more, why that is!"

Olzhiyah
bowed his head, mildly frustrated. "The Scepter is safe again,
though, that should be important."

"Only
for a few thousand years. Then the new keys will be born and this
damnable war will be renewed."

"And
the djinn will be there to keep it safe still."

Gwymir
laughed, making himself another cup of alcoholic tea. "And luckily
I won't be. That way I won't mess with the order of things."

The
djinni shook his head. "You're being far too hard on
yourself, Gwymir."

"I
swore to myself to keep Argenfon away from the Ruby Sword! I
failed!"

Olzhiyah
leaned closer to his host and took the teacup out of his hands. In
its place, he left a shining, silvery pool of something. In the
liquid was a picture of Argenfon, happy with his angel in his arms.
The seer sighed, staring at it.

"You
allowed him that. But his fate was his to decide. No one
else could choose it for him," he laughed lightly, "no matter how
hard you tried to the contrary."

"I
say that it is right." He gave his old friend a stern look when he
lifted his head back up. "You helped them both along, what with
planting happy little dreams in their head." The djinni grinned.
"You gave them both this moment before they died. I would
think that would give you some pride."

Gwymir
gave the elemental being a sharp look. "How'd you know about
that?!"

"I
just knew." Olzhiyah took the silvery liquid from his friend's
hands. "Be glad it is the only lasting tragedy of the war. You
miss the joy that is now in the place of the war while you sit here
moping."

The
seer said nothing.

"You
still have the Silver One to watch over." The djinni stood –
well, you could not really say that, as that he had no true legs.
"She still has some things yet to fulfill, even if her brother's
prophecies are at an end."

Not
waiting for his friend to reply, he disappeared. After a moment,
Gwymir reached back and took up his teacup again and drank the
contents rather quickly. Olzhiyah might be right, he thought, but he
still had a right to grieve for Argenfon's death – and Tiazi's.
He still felt completely responsible. But…there was still
happiness left. Aeslynn and Lonryo were wellsprings of happiness and
they would continue pouring it forth, even in light of the tragedy.

&
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Though
Argenfon's death affected Gwymir greatly, it was nothing compared
to that which his parents felt. Norestes did not even wait for his
injuries to fully heal before he had Xaria provide him with the best
directions she could and then set about going to collect her
brother's body. When he had arrived in Oshlay with Argenfon,
Aeslynn had wept for hours in her mate's arms. Lonryo was too
deeply affected by his son's death to express his emotions, even
though Aeslynn could still feel them within him. She cried tears for
him as well. She felt a bit betrayed by her gift of prophecy, for
she had not foreseen his death. The diamond dragon that was still
tending to her said her body was still recovering and seeing
his death might have caused her even more stress than she needed.

A
few days later, Lonryo's younger sister, Khaira, came to officially
relieve her brother of his duties as guardian of the valley since he
would no longer be able to fulfill the requirements the position
demanded due to his injury. Lonryo announced to the town the change
and there was a great regret among them at seeing their guardian
leaving them after he had served them for so long. But, in his
heart, he knew that it would probably be better now that he was
leaving. They would not be threatened anymore if there were still
more events that might unfold and bring danger to him and his family.

Lonryo
and his family were then escorted to the Mansion of Clouds by the
gold dragon that had healed the family after the attack. They were
welcomed heartily by nearly the entire population of the Mansion.
And Ginfe, who had stayed with his parents since his arrival, asked
Lomahna, in front of everyone gathered to greet his family, if she
would be his life's mate. Though she was thoroughly embarrassed at
his choice of locations to ask (such things were usually done in
private) she did accept. The planning of their mating ceremony began
that day, which gave Lonryo something to focus on other than his
injury, which he had done a lot since the day it happened.

Time
passed and the kingdom recovered from what had been expected to be a
far greater war than it had been. The royal homes that had been
attacked were rebuilt, as were the schools of magic. Oshlay was
rebuilt – by the djinn, no less. But once that was done, they
disappeared back into the recesses of memory. Lonryo was allowed to
continue being the representative of the cloud dragon royal family on
the Council (though he had to learn to ride phalerea dragons to
travel back and forth). He got to meet Zeruoder, whom he had heard a
lot about from Xaria. It seemed they had formed quite a friendship
while she had been at Milanysh Palace. He found the black dragon
prince was the most amazingly peace oriented member of his kind he
had ever met and the two princes also formed a strong friendship.

It
also happened that, though it would turn out to be her last child,
Aeslynn bore a daughter, that her foresight had shown her would turn
out to be a great healer. What shocked everyone was that the child
had the same soul as the one she had lost (now years before) when she
was attacked. Though Aeslynn gave her daughter the same name she had
received for her to begin with – Anali – her eagerness to be born
to her parents earned her the nickname Erohiam, which meant
"determined soul". She would always prefer Anali, though.

Everything
was back to being as normal as it could be. Xaria was back studying
her draltevine magic (though her curriculum had expanded to include
light and dark magics, which she proved exceptional at). Aeslynn was
doing what she had always done best – raising her children and
drawing (though, much to Anarisa's disappointment, her former
apprentice now lived too far away to make regular visits to help
her). Ginfe and Lomahna had quickly had children of their own (which
made Aeslynn feel like she was getting old – being a grandmother
and all, even if she did have her own young daughter to raise still).
And Lonryo helped to keep the with the Dracocian Council's drive
to keep peace firmly in place in the kingdom, though it was the most
peaceful it had been before Aeslynn had been born almost eighty years
before.

So,
in the end, I suppose we shall say that everything went as "happily
ever after" as reality can allow it to be.

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To
my reviewer –

destroX
– I'm glad you think I'm getting better. Trust me, if you
could see what I see when revising one of my older stories (one I
wrote in high school – that was like 8 years ago!) you'd see
just how much I've truly improved. LOL But, yes, I do plan to
keep posting stories. I posted the first chapter of "Revelations
in Twilight" tonight as well, as stated in my author's note. If
a non-romantic story interests you, please, do read it.

MysteriousStranger
– You didn't breathe through most of the fight in the last
chapter? ::blinks:: And here I thought that was the crappiest fight
scene I've ever done! I hardly put any detail into it at all.
Well, just proves that I truly am my worst critic, I suppose. Yeah,
I'm not planning to do any more stories, hence "Finale". And,
yes, I would like to get these published, but…well…that'd take
a lot of editing for "Dragon's Gift" and "Black Nightmares",
and I don't think I'm up for that right now, though I do plan to
getting to revising the first soon.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.